Post from August 2, 2023

”👟 RSD 1191 ✅ Today’s Verse (excerpt): “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” — Psalms 91:4 🪽

Psalm 91 (NIV, entire Psalm): “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. ‘Because he loves Me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.’”

Excerpts from The Message translation: “You who sit down in the High God’s presence spend the night in Shaddai’s [Almighty’s] shadow, say this: ‘God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!’ That’s right—He rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you—under them you’re perfectly safe; His arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day… Yes, because God’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door. He ordered His angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they’ll catch you…’If you’ll hold on to Me for dear life,’ says God, ‘I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust Me. Call Me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you…’” — Psalms 91:1-5, 9-12, 14-15

Do you have a favorite word? It’s seems like a weird question, but, when it’s asked, it really does make you think, doesn’t it? I saw these Instagram ads (over a a period of months) for something called The Little Words Project. Basically, they make these bracelets with the word (or words) of your choice and have a thing where you can register your bracelet. The idea is to wear it for a time (however much time you need) and pass it along to someone else. The registration part has this spirit of connection: especially if your bracelet was passed along to you, you can register it to see where all the bracelet has been. Like geocaching, I guess (I’ve never tried geocaching), or like that rock thing that was popular in our town a few years ago. The hippie in me loves the idea, and, especially if you think back to your childhood (but probably in adulthood too), we’ve probably all given things away in this effect before (think like friendship bracelets at camp or those Taylor Swift bracelets I saw in y’all’s concert photos or that Disney World pin exchange I’ve seen people reference or one friend giving his buddy the pocket knife he got for his first overnight Cub Scout camp). I’ve given away jewelry off my person a few times in adulthood (small, inexpensive…and it had words or an uplifting symbol on it), and I totally recommend it. You never plan to—it just sort of happens, and it’s a really honest moment…a shared wish of love and goodwill to another. Yeah, it’s wonderful when you have something made for someone else, but giving something that’s actually yours has an added layer of humanity. Like, “I used to look at this every day, and now you can too.” Come on, we all loved that part at the end of “The Breakfast Club” when Molly Ringwald (Claire) gives Judd Nelson (Bender) one of her diamond earrings, and he immediately puts it in his ear.

These things are usually “spur of the moment,” yet thoughtful because you know that person would like it or needed a reminder or something. I wear several bracelets with words on them (to commemorate different MILEstones in my running journey), but a couple of months ago, I bought one of those “give away someday” bracelets from The Little Words Project. I have no idea when we’ll part ways, but I think that’s the sort of thing where the time finds you rather than you find it. So, one of the advertisements for these bracelets asked the same question that I penned at the beginning of this reflection: “what’s your favorite word?” How do you pick? A word, “ a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing” (Google/Oxford). How do you pick a favorite? Is it your child’s name, or the name of the month you married the love of your life? Is it the name of your favorite summer camp, or the word “summer” in general? Is it “Jesus,” or “pray” because you know that, if you don’t know what else to pray, saying “Jesus” is plenty? Is it “brave” or “strong” to remind you that you are? Is it part of an idiom or pun that makes your day a little lighter? One advertisement I saw when researching for this reflection had the word “extra” with an avocado: “The guac is extra, and so am I.” Is it “love,” “serve,” or “goodwill” to remind you what you should do? There was this project in high school Spanish once about your favorite verb; I chose “communicar” (to communicate) cause I figured you have to do that to do all the other stuff in life. Choosing one thing has never been my strong suit. I flip flop on my favorite movie or TV show. So, how did I answer the question that keeps coming up? I did the same thing as “comunicar”: something that would unlock a lot of somethings. What does the bracelet say? “Psalm 91.”

Today’s verse(s) is one I wanted to make sure I included in this SummerVerse series. I almost did it the other day when the sum of the digits was 19, but I figured it best to wait for 91. It’s said that Psalm 91 is powerful and that it can be read aloud (or in your heart silently) as a prayer; there are also prayers online for Psalm 91 that have these same words written in a more “traditional” prayer fashion as well. A commentary on this passage from CEPreaching (dot org) points out that “Psalm 91 is a call to confidence in God and so is a call away from the cynicism of our age.” Cynicism, “an inclination to question whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile” (Google/Oxford). “Whether something…is worthwhile”…what something? Effort? Sacrifice? Endeavors? Service? Hope? Goodwill? Prayer? Love? Life? The “something” is different for everyone, and even for any of us within ourselves depending on the day. Sometimes it seems that we’re consistently out-of-step with the cadence of the world and the life within it, and it gets to be frustrating. On RSD 1190, we talked about the fact that life doesn’t always yield a return to the best of our efforts. Sometimes the return is too far down the line for us to see, and we have to take it on faith that our efforts will be a part of something good.

On RSD 1177, we talked about waiting and how the truthful twist on that popular saying “season of waiting” is that it often seems more like a series than a season—a series…of a show that nobody wants to watch. This “bad reality show” finds us seeking answers from God and ahem “patiently” awaiting His answer, His intervention—let’s be honest: for Him to make everything bad go away. But, what we forget in our frustration, our fatigue, our sadness, our grief, our fear, our anger, our uncertainty, our stress, our disillusionment is that God has already provided a general answer to us to hold close until He gives us the specifics. “’If you’ll hold on to Me for dear life,’ says God, ‘I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust Me.‘“ God promises to hold us close, safely in His hands. All we have to do is ask. No matter what potholes, wrong turns, and bandits we encounter along our path in life, God is always there to protect us and guide us. The Expanded Bible translation of Joshua 1:5 reminds us, “‘No one will be able to ·defeat [resist; stand against] you all your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not ·leave [fail] you or ·forget [desert; forsake] you.’” On RSD 1150, we talked about this verse and the difference between remembering and not forgetting. You can forget something only to remember it again, but, if you don’t forget something, you, well, don’t forget it in the first place.

God promises over and over in the Bible that He won’t forget us. In today’s passage, the author (either David or Moses) conveys that he is safe because he is sheltered by God, protected by angels, and meant for a purpose set by The Almighty. He states these truths and reiterates the promises of God: promises of life and love, more abundantly than we could ever imagine. All we have to do when we are hopeless, or we are scared, or we are overwhelmed, or we are hurting is to call upon the Lord. “‘He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.’” With God on our side, everything’s going to be ok, even when things totally aren’t ok. Psalm 91 is noted as a powerful prayer of protection because in declaring this over our lives, we are calling out to God for help and resting in His promises (“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty”). We also need God’s help even when things are going really well because God will help us know the “next right thing” for us to do. So, the words of Psalm 91 are “a shared wish of love and goodwill,” better than a wish, even— a promise. And, we know that God keeps His promises (“so is My word that goes out from My mouth: it will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” — Isaiah 55:11). God won’t forget us. Maybe if we take time periodically to read Psalm 91, we’ll more easily remember how loved and valued and protected we are in the times when we feel like we’re not. We don’t want to be forgotten, and God doesn’t want us to forget about Him either. He wants us to call out to Him anytime, for anything. With all of this talk about not forgetting, coupled with “The Breakfast Club” reference from earlier, it only seems right to end this reflection with the lyrics of that famous ending song by the Simple Minds; maybe they’ll hit a little different just now. 🎶“Don’t you, forget about me. As you walk on by, will you call my name?”🎶”